Hindustan Holocaust

[muse]

Hidden Story of the First-Ever Indian Holocaust
Amaresh Misra

21 September 2008
On August 30th 2008, the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi apologised to Libya for damage inflicted by Italy during the colonial era and signed a five-billion-dollar investment deal by way of compensation.

Formerly part of the Ottoman Empire, Libya was occupied by Italy in 1911 before becoming a colony in the 1930s. The country gained its independence in 1951 after a brief period of UN-mandated Franco-British administration.

The Imperialist brutalities are coming to fore as historical research and political battles unearth facts that are undeniable examples of violations of human rights and liberties during the colonisation of countries in Asia and Africa. The most recent revelation has come from India where during the wars fought during 1857 — called the ‘Mutiny’ by the British but the ‘First War of Independence’ by Indians, British troops appeared to have killed 10 million Indians. The deaths reported are from all religions, communities and castes that fought together during this revolt that lasted 10 years.

The Indian subcontinent at that time had a total population of about 150 million; it can be said safely therefore that during the entire course of the 1857 revolt roughly seven per cent of the Indian population was killed; in World War II, more than 10 million lives were lost—but that amounted to 2.5 per cent of the world’s population.

In 1857, the British faced the first major challenge not only to their rule in India but Asia as whole. After suffering defeats in several 1857 battles fought in the early stages of the revolt, the invincible British army was exposed as possessing feet of clay — in the words of a major 20th century British historian, the ‘Achilles Heel’ of the British infantry, the most efficient killing machine that existed at that point in time, was exposed when even Scottish Highlanders refused to charge against urban Indian, peasant-soldier street-fighters in the September 1857 battle of Delhi.

The British feared the loss of their Empire — and they put this across to the world as a ‘loss for Christendom and civilised world as a whole’. Before major battles, British Commanders reminded their soldiers that all of Europe was watching their war against a `barbarian, heathen, Indian, Asiatic culture’. To win at all costs the British seemed to have decided on mass liquidation.

1857 was proclaimed jointly a jihad by Muslim Ulemas and a dharmayuddha (holy war) by Hindu Sadhus. The Muslims fought all over the present state of Uttar Pradesh (UP)—India’s most populous state, and the custodian of its culture and honour. Western and North UP (the area known today as Ruhelkhand) alone possessed more than 5000 madrasas where Hindus and Muslims studied together. Each madrasa had more than 5000 students; computed to the 56 UP districts, and deducting a large number that might have migrated and melted away, the Ulema and madrasa student death figure crosses the 1500,000 mark. Post-1857 Hindi language records of the Sanatani Niranjani and Juna akhadas (ascetic cum commercial cum warrior orders) of Hindus speak, of a 90 per cent drop in their membership. The records also explicitly claim that 3000,000 Hindu Sanatan Dharmis perished in the Ghadar or the disturbances of 1857.

While recounting the horror of British reprisals in Allahabad and other middle UP districts, Indian chronicles speak of more than 5,000 deaths every weak, for a period extending from June, 1857, to April, 1858. If this figure is computed to all middle UP districts, the figure in UP (barring the central UP area of Avadh) crosses the 5,000,000 mark. Then in Avadh, which the British had to re-conquer virtually village by village, land survey records and Gazetteers published after 1857 record a drop of almost 20 per cent population in all districts. Field officer Mitchell, writing to the Central Road Department in 1871 writes: “on account of the undisputed display of British power, necessary during those terrible and wretched days, millions of wretches seemed to have died. My estimate is 20 per cent in each of the 12 Oudh districts”.

Research in postal records reveals that, following the Ghadar, 2,000,000 letters were returned back from their addresses in Avadh. In the 1870s, in a letter addressed to Mansfield, a senior employee of the Postal Department of the United Provinces (UP), the Avadh Head Post Master Rowling wrote that “I do not know what to do with these letters. When you will hear this figure….it is astounding….more than 2000,000 letters have been lying unmarked in the GPO godown (sic) and it is a damn worry and all the more troublesome since we do not have space….a native employee told me that these letters belong to those who fought and were killed in that mutiny….all of them belong to the Oudh region. The matter that 20,00,000 letters were returned between 1857 and 1861 shows the kind of vengeance our boys must have wreaked on the abject Hindus and Mohammadens….”

As per British records, the rough estimate is about 2,500,000 killed in Avadh; already, the UP figure is touching the 7,500,000 or the 7.5 million mark; this is independent of East UP and the neighbouring province of Bihar — places where again, the Bhojpur district 1870s land survey, records a drop of more than 30 per cent population. The 1860s Bundelkhand road and railway surveys in South-west UP complain of a 70 per cent drop in labour availability; a 1880s Road Survey report of the region claims that “road construction” could “not be sustained” due to labour shortage and people killed in the ‘Mutiny’. When confronted with the horror of Nazi concentration camps, the German public cried saying ‘we knew nothing about this’; about the German situation, the Jews, the victims, at least had an inkling — aided by western liberals, Israel, the Jewish nation, forced the world to punish figures guilty for the Jewish Holocaust. It is time that Britain apologises to India for the loss of life and development that occurred during colonial rule.

Compensation should be given specially to areas that suffered economically because of unimaginable British atrocities in 1857. Most of these areas remain woefully backward and poor to this day and time.

Amaresh Misra is an Indian historian and author; the article is based on ‘War of Civilisations: India 1857 AD’, his new two volume book, recently published in India. Details about the book can be located on the link War of Civilisations: 1857 AD

 

[Vinod2070]

^^ There is nothing like a benevolent invader. The British were definitely very cruel after the 1857 independence war. I am sure millions perished in the repercussions. We have all heard of there being no tree in many UP districts where people were not hung by the British. They acted most shamelessly in China too, where they made entire generations opium addicts for their few pieces of silver.

India has been unfortunate to see many such genocides. All of them claimed to be on some holy mission but they were only looking for loot, rapine, plunder, empire building and worse.

What we Indians can do now is to make ourselves so strong that such heathen barbarians never dare to even think of invading us and piss in their fil.thy pants if ever such a thought crosses their dirty minds.

 

[Logic note]

Dear Muse..

human past was laced with our ignorance .. and past can be ignored .. and forgiven
yes we can see it with our perception to understand the possibility of beast lurking inside human nature and beware for it .. be strong and united against it ..
against the beast within ourself ..
China is a good example .. Chinese see their past with humiliation .. and have not forgiven past .. They disgust Japan and see there own economic development as an opportunity to overcome that humiliation .. and to express vindictiveness ..and this has led them to choose "end" at the cost of "means" . and as a result have they have suffered with there own self ..
for them "Success" has to be achieved at any cose .. irrespective of the "path " they have to opt for it ...
lot of Indians have same perception .. but they forget that past is past the whole humanity was ignorant .. we lacked the balance of science and humanity ..
lets forget and move on ... lets not bring that past in our present.

The act of asking of forgiveness is more directed towards self .. and not for Algerian

 

[third eye]

The point of interest is the impact a Hindu - Muslim joint effort made.

Never again did it happen.

 

[su-47]

Just ask yourself, what enabled the british to do this? to conquer a large a nation like india? the answer is that we were divided. even in 1857, there were millions of indians who supported the british. most of this 10 million deaths were by the hands of indians who were following british orders. this is what happens when there is too much rivalry between people. others expolit it.

even now, india-pak rivalry is being exploited by other nations, who sell arms to both nations. if age of colonialism was still on, these nations would make india and pakistan fight each other, weaken ourselves, and then conquer us both.

history has shown us how a large powerful nation like india was conquered by a much smaller England coz the indians were divided and happy to see their rivals suffer, while the real enemy exploited them. we cant change the past, but we can prevent anything like this ever happening again.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

Were there any major contributions to the 1857 mutiny from the lands of Pakistan?

 

[Flintlock]

[Compensation should be given specially to areas that suffered economically because of unimaginable British atrocities in 1857. Most of these areas remain woefully backward and poor to this day and time.

]

Indeed, and people wonder why Northern India stands on the precipice of civilization.

There is no need to seek revenge or compensation, but we are definitely avenging this bleak period, bit by bit.

 

[muse]

Just ask yourself, what enabled the british to do this? to conquer a large a nation like india? the answer is that we were divided. even in 1857, there were millions of indians who supported the british

India at that time was a land mass - The wars between the Moghul and the Maratha confederacy had sapped the populace - the entire sytem of princes, Nawabs, Rajas, etc., was decadent, in decay.

You note the absence of ideas, absence of a self awareness.

And you will note pretty much the same thing is continuing even now - the players go by different labels - but the game is the same.

we cant change the past, but we can prevent anything like this ever happening again

.

From your lips to God's ears -- but I, just my opinion, am not hopeful - I think, and my preconcieved notions reflect here, that the sub-continent has had several curses for both Hindu and Muslim. For the Muslim, it is the inablity and unwillingness to create a consciouness based on ethics and morality. Muslims in the subcontinent hope to "layer" an understanding of Islam on a cultural eddifice that is a mockery of Islam - for Hindu's two curses come to mind. One is Manu, the other Chanakya. Of course persepective is key, to my thinking, these two have a curious sway over the imagination, they are part of culture and they are part of conscience as well.

The original piece leading the thread is a rather economic exposition, but reading it I could not resist tears welling in my eyes, something about us, we just absorbed it - in none of the responses is a there a registration of sheer numbers of Hindu and Muslims killed and in only one the acknowledgment that for once the population seemed aware of itself as one. The poor Bahadur Shah Zafar, is there a more tragic figure in the histories of the subcontinent.

The threads about Bajrang Dal and other depraved are reflective of the lunacy behind the ideology of Hindutva - nothing, certainly not Pakistan nor the freedom of Kashmir are as great a risk to the idea of India, as is the ideology that is Hindutva. Once again, India is understood as India for Hindus and Hindustan for Muslims of India. Getting the relationship right requires a move beyond empty slogans and ideas that have lost their relevance. An India in which the muslims of India do not see themselves as fully vested is a mortal threat to the idea of a india; However; I concede that this too reflects my preconcieved notions or my persepective.

The British feared the loss of their Empire — and they put this across to the world as a ‘loss for Christendom and civilised world as a whole’. Before major battles, British Commanders reminded their soldiers that all of Europe was watching their war against a `barbarian, heathen, Indian, Asiatic culture’. To win at all costs the British seemed to have decided on mass liquidation

Have things really changed?? Is there not today another empire, who fearing loss of their empire have put to themselves and to the rest of us the exact same proposition??? In the exact same terms??

The matter that 20,00,000 letters were returned between 1857 and 1861 shows the kind of vengeance our boys must have wreaked on the abject Hindus and Mohammadens….”

And are there not today, as there were in the past, alignments in the subcontinent based on the propositions and justifications as they were imposed on us in the past??

For Christendom -- Barbarian, heathen, INDIAN, ASIATIC -- the hatred is to the very core, the very being. And is this Hatred any differeent today?? Honestly, in your heart of hearts, to yourself, can you say that this hatred is any different today?? And even today, are not those who call upon us to align with them, though they propose that our "being" is "unnatural" and our alien-ness a reflection of it?? And DO not some respond to them as if these were Gods who can do no wrong??

I am not sure if we can ever develop a consciousness about ourselves in which the other is first a human being. To each other, locked in a competition without end (Chanakya's curse) we always seem to come up short - we know the right thing to do and cannot seem to do it.

Ask yourself how a handful of AQ or Islamists or whatever you wish to call them, have managed to do what they done to Pakistan - ask yourself how did that nation allow itself to be done that way? Ask yourself what is society like to allow itself to be done that way? What are ideas in society that it cannot tell right from wrong, does not know good from bad - ask yourselves

 

[Flintlock]

Muse, the muslim conquest of India was quite similar in its barbarism, driven by the same hatred of the pagans and the desire to build an empire.

 

[muse]

Indeed. As opposed to all peacefull and civilized conquests. Get your Thumbs out -- Think!

 

[Flintlock]

Indeed. As opposed to all peaceful and civilized conquests. Get your Thumbs out -- Think!

How does that matter?

There are indeed civilized conquests and barbaric ones. Which is why we have the ethics of war in the first place.

Colonialism is simply the more recent conquest among the two.

 

[Flintlock]

Hindutva is an attempt to reclaim India from its ashes, but sadly it has been taken up by religious fanatics who think that more hinduism is the answer.

Or perhaps that is the only possible way such a movement could shape itself.

Who is right? Naipaul or Nehru?

Time will tell.

 

[muse]

Hindutva is an attempt to reclaim India from its ashes, but sadly it has been taken up by religious fanatics who think that more hinduism is the answer.

Or perhaps that is the only possible way such a movement could shape itself.

Who is right? Naipaul or Nehru?

Hindutva - Thats all you got out it?? Reclaim India from it's ashes?? As if there was such a thing in the past?? You and I must have read different history books - but maybe it's a question of semantics - when you say India from the ashes, are referring to a political economy named India?? or are you referring to an area where cultures we now call Hindu were prevalent? if the former, you are in manifest error, if the latter, recall who first coined the word to define the peoples of the subcontinent and recall who it was who used that word to define the collection of texts, castes, and rituals to define these as a religion.

AgNostic has a thread about created nation states, it makes for good reading - and we must confuse the histores we create to give substance to certain ideas as being the same as experienced realities - yes, plural.

 

[Flintlock]

I am simply talking about Indian society. Not India as a political entity.

 

[third eye]

Were there any major contributions to the 1857 mutiny from the lands of Pakistan?

Not really, it would have helped if troops of the East India Co could have been tied down in the Punjab , NW & Scinde ( Sind). This would have prevented troops from those parts being sent down the Grand Trunk road for the relief of Delhi.

There were instances of troops having rebelled in Ludhiana, and parts of what is now Himachal Pradesh but no major insurrection further west sufficient to cause anxiety to the Generals in Simla.

The fact that Nicholson & Hodson came down to Delhi speaks how quite the lands west of the Sutlej were.

The greatest concern then for the EI Co was the possible rebellion on part of the Sikhs whom they had subdued only a decade ago. Luckily for them , it was not to be.