Monday, September 14, 2009

FAMINE IN BENGAL



MILLIONS DIED IN FAMINES
TOTAL INDIANS WHO DIED IN FAMINES UNDER BRITISH RULE IS MORE THAN 4 CRORE FROM 1800 TILL 1947 WHEN INDIA GOT FREEDOM

Saturday, August 22, 2009

n June 1858, the Times correspondent William Howard Russell—a man now famous as the father of war journalism—arrived in the ruins of Delhi, recently recaptured by the British from the rebels after one of the bloodiest sieges in Indian history. Skeletons still littered the streets, and the domes and minars of the city were riddled with shell holes; but the walls of the Red Fort, the great palace of the Mughals, still looked magnificent: "I have seldom seen a nobler mural aspect," wrote Russell in his diary, "and the great space of bright red walls put me in mind of (the) finest part of Windsor Castle." Russell's ultimate destination was, however, rather less imposing. Along a dark, dingy back passage of the fort, Russell was led to the cell of a frail 83-year-old man who was accused by the British of being one of the masterminds of the Great Rising, or Mutiny, of 1857, the most serious armed act of resistance to Western imperialism ever to be mounted anywhere in the world. "He was a dim, wandering-eyed, dreamy old man with a feeble hanging nether lip and toothless gums," wrote a surprised Russell. "Not a word came from his lips; in silence he sat day and night with his eyes cast on the ground, and as though utterly oblivious of the conditions in which he was placed.... His eyes had the dull, filmy look of very old age.... Some heard him quoting verses of his own composition, writing poetry on a wall with a burned stick."

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Uprising of 1857/Rani of jhansi



Originally named Manikarnika at birth, she was born to a Maharashtrian Karhade Brahmin family on 19 November 1835 at gola(Presently known as Varanasi). Manu lost her mother at the age of four. She was educated at home. Her father Moropant Tambey travelled to the court of Raja Gangadhar Rao Newalkar, the Maharaja of Jhansi, when Manu was thirteen years old.[ambiguous] She married Gangadhar Rao, the Raja of jhansi, at the age of 14.

Annexation
After her marriage, she was given the name Lakshmi Bai. The Marriage ceremony was performed in Ganesh Mandir, the temple of Lord Ganesha situated in the city of Jhansi. Because of her father's influence at court, Rani Lakshmi Bai had more independence than most women, who were normally restricted to the zenana: she studied self defense, horsemanship, archery, and even formed her own army out of her female friends at court. They became her bodyguards.

Rani Lakshmi Bai gave birth to a son in 1851, but unfortunately this child died when he was about four months old. After the death of their son, the Raja and Rani of Jhansi adopted Anand Rao. However, it is said that her husband the Raja never recovered from his son's death, and he died on 21 November 1853 of a broken heart. The Rani was eighteen years old.

Because Anand Rao was adopted and not biologically related to the Raja, the East India Company, under Governor-General Lord Dalhousie, was able to install the doctrine of lapse, rejecting Rao's rightful claim to the throne. Dalhousie then annexed Jhansi, saying that the throne had become "lapsed" and thus put Jhansi under his "protection". In March 1854, the Rani was given a pension of 60,000 rupees and ordered to leave the palace at the Jhansi fort. Lakshmi Bai was furious, and she spent the next few years passionately protesting, but she only received the “most perfunctory refusals by British officers. The second blow came shortly after when the British allowed the slaughtering of cows, which was a vile abomination to Hindu culture. Lakshmi Bai continued to protest, hoping that she would get some compassion from the British, but her efforts remained unsuccessful. When her appeals left her empty-handed, she hired a British attorney to fight for her against the Company’s unjust rule. She at least made small headway, receiving a pension and permission to stay in the palace.


The Great Rebellion
Meanwhile, unrest began to spread throughout India, and in May of 1857, the First War of Indian Independence erupted in numerous pockets across the subcontinent. During this chaotic time, the British were forced to focus their attentions elsewhere, and Lakshmi Bai was essentially left to rule Jhansi alone. During this time, Lakshmi Bai’s qualities were repeatedly demonstrated as she was able to swiftly and efficiently lead her troops against skirmishes that broke out in Jhansi. Through this leadership Lakshmi Bai was able to keep Jhansi relatively calm and peaceful in the midst of the Empire’s unrest. In fact, as turmoil broke loose all over India, even English families retreated to the Jhansi fort for refuge.

Then, rebel forces tricked the English families into leaving the safety of Jhansi's walls, promising them safe passage. Instead, the rebels appallingly massacred the English. All eyes in the East India Company were turned on Rani Lakshmi Bai, blaming her for the deaths. However, Lakshmi Bai appealed to a British officer she knew, explaining her true position as an unwilling participant who had been “forced to supply them with money, guns, and elephants.”[11] Fortunately for the Rani, the British became preoccupied with uprisings all over India, and they left her alone to rule Jhansi. Rani Lakshmi Bai worked to maintain peace in Jhansi. During this time, Rani Lakshmi Bai was able to demonstrate her ability to effectively rule for almost a year before the British sent troops to take over Jhansi and to capture Rani Lakshmi Bai.

Up to this point, Rani Lakshmi Bai had been hesitant to rebel against the British. However, when the troops arrived and laid siege to Jhansi in March 1858, her hesitation vanished. She rallied her troops around her and her army fought passionately against the British. An army of 20,000, headed by the rebel leader Tantia Tope, was sent to relieve Jhansi and to take Lakshmi Bai to freedom. However, the British were better trained and disciplined than the “raw recruits,” and these inexperienced and incapable soldiers turned and fled shortly after the British began to fight them. Lakshmi Bai’s people could not hold out; the British were able to breach the city and were working to break the fort wall. Yet Lakshmi Bai was stubborn and brave: she would not be taken, and much to Indian pride and British dismay, Lakshmi Bai made a fantastic escape over the wall at night and fled from her city, surrounded by her guards, many of whom were from her women’s military.

Along with the young Damodar Rao, the Rani decamped to Kalpi along with her forces where she joined hands with other rebel forces, including those of Tantia Tope. The Rani and Tantia Tope moved on to Gwalior. At Gwalior, the combined rebel forces defeated the army of the Maharaja of Gwalior when his armies deserted to the rebel forces and they occupied the strategic fort at Gwalior. However on the second day of fighting, on 18 June 1858, the Rani died.


Death
Rani died on 17 June, 1858 during the [Central India Campaign (1858)|battle for Gwalior] battle with 8th Hussars that took place in Kotah-Ki-Serai near Phool Bagh area of Gwalior. She donned warrior's clothes and rode into battle to save Gwalior Fort, about 120 miles west of Lucknow in what is now the state of Madhya Pradesh. The British captured Gwalior three days later. In the report of the battle for Gwalior, General Sir Hugh Rose commented that the rani "remarkable for her beauty, cleverness and perseverance" had been "the most dangerous of all the rebel leaders"

However, the lack of any corpse to be convincingly identified as Rani convinced Captain Rheese of the so called "bravest" regiment that Rani had not actually perished in the battle for Gwalior, stating publicly that:" Queen of Jhansi is alive!" . It is believed the funeral for Rani was arranged on same day in the nearby spot where she was wounded. One of the Rani's maid servant who survived helped with the arrangement of quick funeral.

Because of her bravery, courage, and wisdom and her progressive views on women's empowerment in 19th century India, and due to her sacrifices, she became an icon of Indian independence movement. The Rani was memorialized in bronze statues at both Jhansi and Gwalior, both of which portray her in equestrian style.
Her father, Moropant Tambey, was captured and hanged a few days after the fall of Jhansi. Her adopted son, Damodar Rao, was given a pension by the British Raj, although he never received his inheritance.


Influence
Rani Lakshmi Bai became a national heroine and was seen as the epitome of female bravery in India. When the Indian National Army created its first female unit, it was named after her.

Indian poetess Subhadra Kumari Chauhan wrote a poem in the Veer Das style about her, which is still recited by children in schools of contemporary India.

Malleson


Queen Victoria as Empress of India, 1887
















bombay victoria terminus railway station 1900

Dadabhai Naoroji


Dadabhai Naoroji Biography

Born: September 4, 1825
Died: June 30, 1917
Achievements: First Indian to become a professor of the college; instrumental in the establishment of the Indian National Congress; was President of the Indian National Congress thrice; the Congress' demand for swaraj (self-rule) was first expressed publicly by him in his presidential address in 1906

Dadabhai Naoroji is fondly called as the "Grand Old Man of India". He is viewed as the architect who laid the foundation of the Indian freedom struggle.

Dadabhai Naoroji was born in a poor Parsi family in Bombay on September 4, 1825. His father, Naoroji Palanji Dordi, died when Dadabhai Naoroji was only four years old. He was raised by her mother Maneckbai who despite being illiterate herself ensured that Dadabhai Naoroji got best English education possible. As a student Dada Bhai Naoroji was very good in Mathematics and English. He studied at Elphinstone Institution, Bombay and on completion of his education he was appointed the Head Native Assistant Master at the Elphinstone Institution. Dadabhai Naoroji became a professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at Elphinstone Institution at the age of 27. He was the first Indian to become a professor of the college.

Dadabhai Nauroji entered the political fray in 1852. He strongly opposed the renewal of lease to the East India Company in 1853. He sent petitions to the English government in this regard. But the British government ignored his pleas and renewed the lease. Dadabhai Naoroji felt that the British misrule of India was because of ignorance of the Indian people. He set up the Gyan Prasarak Mandali (Society for Promotion of Knowledge) for the education of adult menfolk. He wrote several petitions to Governors and Viceroys regarding India's problems. Ultimately, he felt that the British people and the British Parliament must be made aware of India's plight. In 1855, at the age of 30 he sailed for England.

In England, Dadabhai Naoroji joined several learned societies, delivered many speeches and wrote articles on the plight of India. He founded the East Indian Association on December 1st, 1866. The association was comprised of high-ranking officers from India and people who had access to Members of the British Parliament. Dadabhai Naoroji was elected to the British Parliament in 1892 from Central Finsbury as the Liberal party candidate. He got a resolution passed in British Parliament for holding preliminary examinations for the I.C.S. in India and England simultaneously. He also got the Wiley Commission, the royal commission on India expenditure, to acknowledge the need for even distribution of administrative and military expenditure between India and England.

Dadabhai Naoroji was instrumental in the establishment of the Indian National Congress founded by A.O. Hume in 1885. Thrice he was elected to the post of the President of the Indian National Congress, in 1886, 1893 and in 1906. During his third term, he prevented a split between moderates and extremists in the party. The Congress' demand for swaraj (self-rule) was first expressed publicly by him in his presidential address in 1906. Dadabhai Naoroji believed in non-violent and constitutional methods of protest. He died at the age of 92 on June 30, 1917.

Friday, July 10, 2009

A 1940s' file picture of UK's Sir Richard Stafford Cripps (garlanded) on his arrival in Bombay to negotiate on the issue of self-government for India.

Indian Soldiers Being Executed by British Canons The aftermath of India's First War of Independence, 1858

1857 1ST WAR OF INDIAN INDEPENDANCE

KASTURBA ,MAHATMA,PATEL,AMRIT KAUR

GANDHI AND JINNAH

MAHATMA GANDHI AND SAROJINI NAUDU

MAHATMA GANDHI AND SUBHASH CHANDRA BOSE

SUBHASH CHANDRA BOSE WITH MOHAMMED ALI JINNA

JAI PRAKASH NARAIN ;RAM MANOHAR LOHIA;PRABHAVATHI

SUBHASH CHANDRA BOSE WITH JAWAHARLAL NEHRU

MAHATMA GANDHI AND KHAN ABDUL GAFAR KHAN

Indian independance picture of leaders /at london

Bipin chandra pal
Pj Mehta
Bal gangadhar tilak
DADA SAHEB KHAPARDE
VITHAL BHAI PATEL
N C KELKAR

Indian independance picture of leaders

Aruna asaf ali;
Jai prakash narain ;
Ram manohar lohia;
achyut patwardhan

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Sri Aurobindo

Sri Aurobindo (August 15, 1872December 5, 1950) was an Indian nationalist and freedom fighter, poet, philosopher, and yogi He joined the movement for India's freedom from British rule and for a duration (1905-1910), became one of its most important leaders before turning to developing his own vision and philosophy of human progress and a spiritual path which he termed Integral Yoga He wrote over a hundred poems, many plays and several books during his life

Freedom Struggle and Politics

Aurobindo’s political career lasted only four years, from 1906 to 1910. This period saw a complete transformation of India's political scene. Before Aurobindo began publishing his views, the Congress was an annual debating society whose rare victories had been instances of the empire taking a favourable view to its petitions. By the time Aurobindo left the field, the ideal of political independence had been firmly ingrained into the minds of people, and nineteen years later, it became the official raison d'etre of the Congress.

This change was affected by the advent of the aggressive nationalist thought of Lokmanya Tilak who declared that swarajwas his birthright and Bipin Chandra Pal who demanded "complete autonomy" from Britain. However none went as far as Aurobindo in articulating the legitimacy and necessity of complete independence. He "based his claim for freedom for India on the inherent right to freedom, not on any charge of misgovernment or oppression". He wrote :

"Political freedom is the life-breath of a nation. To attempt social reform, educational reform, industrial expansion, the moral improvement of the race without aiming first and foremost at political freedom, is the very height of ignorance and futility. The primary requisite for national progress, national reform, is the habit of free and healthy national thought and action which is impossible in a state of servitude."


Bhavabhushan Mitra

In 1908, the Reverend J. Harvey Higginbotham of Kushtia, by running an industrial exhibition with British materials, dissatisfied the local Swadeshi people. He was also suspected of being a Government spy. Apparently interested in theBible, Baladeb Ray and some other young men visited the Missionary. On 4 March 1908, the Missionary was killed late in the evening. Baladeb, Ganesh Das and two others were arrested. The case was tried by Ashutosh Biswas, Public Prosecutor[Bhavabhushan Mitra, or Bhaba Bhusan Mitter, alias Swami Satyananda Puri (1881-1970) was a Bengali Indian freedom fighterand an influential social worker.

He represented the link between two radical trends: the highly centralised spirit of showdown personified by Barindra Kumar Ghose; and the decentralised loose federation of regional units advancing in a progressive revolution, as practised by the Jugantar movement underBagha Jatin.

In 1904-1905, Barin and his maternal uncle Manindra Basu had been members of the “Golden League” club which furthered “the boycott and Swadeshi movement.”]

Early in May 1908, escaping the massive arrests in Bengal, Bhavabhushan fled to Mumbai under the name of Advaitananda Brahmachari

Bhavabhushan joined a group of revolutionaries who, disguised as fierce monks, created a panic by attacking the armed Police to protest against Tilak’s trial

Bhababhushan had been in jail during the trial of the main case, 1908-1909, and was convicted in a supplementary case connected with the Howrah case in June 1910 .Released from jail on 2 December 1914,

Bhavabhushan seems to have avoided all overtly active part in the subsequent episodes of freedom fight,





Basanta Kumar Biswas

Basanta Kumar Biswas (6 February 1895, Poragachha, Nadia District – 1915) was a pro-independence activist involved in theJugantar group who, in December 1912, is believed to have bombed the Viceroy's Parade in what came to be known as the Delhi-Lahore Conspiracy. He was initiated into revolutionary movement by Jugantar leaders Amarendranath Chattopadhyaya and Rash Behari Bose.

Revolutionary activities

On 23 December 1912, Biswas, disguised as a woman, threw abomb at Governor General Lord Charles Hardinge in Delhi.Police arrested him on 26 February 1914 in Krishnanagar, Nadia while he was performing the last rites for his father. The trial, which came to be called the Delhi-Lahore Conspiracy Case, began on 23 May 1914in Delhi and on 5 October, Basanta was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. However The Government was eager to have the death penelty imposed so an appeal was formulated at Lahore High Court and the records held atAmbala Central Jail were tampered with to show that Biswas was two years older than he really was to input legal responsibility for his offence. The Crown won its appeal and Biswas was sentenced to be hanged.

Basanta Kumar Biswas was hanged on 11 May 1915 at Ambala Central Jail in Punjab aged twenty and became one of the youngest persons to be executed during the Indian revolutionary struggles during the 20th century. There are fourplaques to commemorate Biswas - one in front of Muragachha School, Nadia; the other next to the Rabindra Bhavanauditorium at Krishnanagar, the third at Madame Tetsu-cong-Hiochi's garden in Tokyo and the fourth one in Nadia. Rashbehari Bose embedded the third one in memory of his young disciple. [Somadatta Mondal]. The third one being unveiled by Rash Behari Bose.























Calendar art depicting the hanging of Khudiram Bose

The Muzaffarpur killing

Khudiram and Prafulla Chaki were sent to Muzaffarpur, Bihar to assassinate Kingsford, the Calcutta Presidency Magistrate, and later, magistrate of Muzaffarpur, Bihar.

Khudiram and Prafulla watched the usual movements of Kingsford and prepared a plan to kill him. On the evening of April 30, 1908, the duo waited in front of the gate of the European Club for the carriage of Kingsford to come. When a vehicle came out of the gate, they threw bombs and blew up the carriage. However, the vehicle was not carrying Kingsford and instead two British ladies - Mrs and Miss Kennedy (the wife and daughter of barrister Pringle Kennedy) were killed. The revolutionary duo fled. Prafulla committed suicide when cornered by police at the Samastipur Railway station. Khudiram was later arrested about 20 km from Samastipur at a distance of 12 km from Pusa Bazaar where Rajendra Agricultural University was first established. The railway station where Khudiram was arrested while having tea was earlier known as Pusa Road and recently has been renamed as Khudiram Pusa .He was the first youngest freedom fighter.

Death

On this Muzaffarpur bombing and other charges of bombings carried out by him, a pretense of trial was carried out for two months. Although the leading Calcutta advocate Narendra Kumar Basu mounted a stout defense of Khudiram's actions in defense of his motherland (without charging any fees), Khudiram was sentenced to death. The sentence was carried out, and he was hanged on August 19, 1908. But the one thing that surprised everyone was that as he was hanged he was still smiling. And to this the Bengali poet Kazi Nazrul Islam wrote a poem to honor him

Rash Behari Boserevolutionary leader against the British

Rashbehari Bose (Bengali: রাসবিহারী বসু Rashbihari Boshu) (May 25,1886January 21, 1945 was a revolutionary leader against the British Raj in India and was one of the key organisers of the Ghadar conspiracy and later, the Indian National Army.

Bose along with A M Nair was instrumental in persuading the Japanese authorities to stand by the Indian nationalists and ultimately to support actively the Indian freedom struggle abroad. Bose convened a conference in Tokyo on March 28-30, 1942, which decided to establish the Indian Independence League. At the conference he moved a motion to raise an army for Indian liberation. He convened the second conference of the League at Bangkok on June 22, 1942. It was at this conference that a resolution was adopted to invite Subhas Chandra Bose to join the League and take its command as its president.

The Indian prisoners of war captured by the Japanese in theMalaya and Burma fronts were encouraged to join the Indian Independence League and become the soldiers of the Indian National Army (INA), the military wing of Bose's Indian National League. But his rise to actual power and glory was unfortunately terminated by an action of the Japanese military command, which expelled him and his general Mohan Singh from the INA leadership. But though he fell from grace, his organisational structure remained, and it was on the organisational spadework of Rashbehari Bose that Subhash Chandra Bose later built the Indian National Army (also called 'Azad Hind Fauj'). Before his death, the Japanese Government honoured him with the 'Second Order of the Merit of the Rising Sun'.

Subhas Chandra Bose a leader in the Indian independence movement.

Subhas Chandra Bose born January 23, 1897; presumed to have died August 18, 1945 although this is disputed), popularly known as Netaji (literally "Respected Leader"), was a leader in the Indian independence movement.
Bose attempted to maintain unity, but Gandhi advised Bose to form his own cabinet. The rift also divided Bose and Nehru. Bose appeared at the 1939 Congress meeting on a stretcher. Though he was elected president again, over Gandhi's preferred candidate Pattabhi Sitaramayya, this time differences with Gandhi led to Bose's resignation. "I am an extremist, " Bose once said
When war erupted in Europe, Bose was again imprisoned for civil disobedience and put under house arrest to await trial. He escaped and made his way to Berlin by way of Peshawar and Afghanistan. In Europe, Bose sought help from Germany for the liberation of India. He got Nazi permission to organize the Indian Legion of prisoners of war from Africa, but the legion remained basically German in training. Bose felt the need for stronger steps, and he turned to the Japanese embassy in Berlin, which finally made arrangements for Bose to go to Asia. Bose's impressive appearance and charisma attracted women admirers, including his Austrian secretary, whom he secretly married and by whom he had a daughter. It was also in Germany that Bose acquired his popular name, "Netaji.

Arriving in Tokyo in May 1943, Bose attracted the attention of the Japanese high command, including Hideki Tojo, Japan's premier. The Japanese agreed to cooperate in founding an Axis-supported Indian National Army (INA) in Southeast Asia. Bose was flown to Singapore and became commander of the INA and head of the Free India provisional government (Arzi Hukumat-e-Azad Hind).

The INA included both Indian prisoners of war from Singapore and Indian civilians in Southeast Asia. The strength of INA grew to 43,000 and fought Allied forces in 1944 inside the borders of India at Imphal and in Burma. For Bose any means and any ally were acceptable in the struggle to liberate India. By the end of World War II none of Bose's Axis allies had helped, and Bose then turned to the Soviet Union. [1] Three officers of the INA were tried after the war in Delhi; the trial attracted so much popular sympathy (including statements by Nehru and Gandhi that the men were great patriots) that the British decision to withdraw from India followed. Bose indirectly and posthumously achieved his goal of Indian independence.

Officially, Bose died in a plane crash over Taiwan, while flying to Tokyo on 18 August 1945. It is believed that he was on route to the Soviet Union in a Japanese plane when it crashed in Taiwan, burning him fatally. However, his body was never recovered, a