The untold Delhi

In the freshly released Besieged: Voices from Delhi, he gives us a series of selections from different sources that not only put the 1857 “mutiny”/ “war of independence” in context but also give greater voice to Indians than has often been the case in the past

Mahmood Farooqui is known as a theatre personality and a scholar whose translations have enabled William Dalrymple’s popular and excellent history books. In the freshly released Besieged: Voices from Delhi, he gives us a series of selections from different sources that not only put the 1857 “mutiny”/ “war of independence” in context but also give greater voice to Indians than has often been the case in the past.

Memories, and accounts, of 1857 vary: There were accounts of atrocities and heroism on and by both sides. However, by and large, the dominant (British-inspired) perspective is that of a doomed uprising of “sepoys”, reluctantly led by an aged Mughal emperor who was a prisoner in his own palace. There are some elements of truth in this version. But the accounts in Farooqui’s book reveal a greater complexity: For instance, it becomes evident that an extraordinary effort was launched by Bahadur Shah Zafar to fight the British. Thousands of labourers and tonnes of materials were mobilized, funds were gathered, the police monitored food prices and a functioning bureaucracy was vigilantly maintained—right until the city’s fall. There were prescient attempts to prevent Hindu-Muslim conflict (which was being anticipated by the British) by banning the slaughter of cows, etc.

Full report here Mint