24. Shell in the Mirror Palace

Tatya Tope and Raosaheb arrived on the south-east side of the city on the tenth day, and started bombarding the English. Tope fought at his hardest. Hand-to-hand fight started. It was accompanied by the racket of war-drums and pipes. Our forces were about to win the battle, but the fate intervened: the wind changed its direction and

the smoke (of guns) started blowing into Peshwa's army. The English advanced, with their guns. Their cavalry boldly charged, without fear of life. Peshwa's men panicked and took to heels. Tope and others too abandoned the guns and fled the battle field. The English returned to their camp triumphant the next morning. 

The English launched an all-out assault. The townsmen had spent the previous night sleepless. When the battle entered the eleventh day, spies brought news that the enemy is running out of ammunition, it won't last a day longer. The Queen, armed with sword, standing on the rampart, handed rewards to the gunners. She herself lighted the cannon-fuses sometimes. 

The English guns targeted the residential quarters in the fort. On the second-floor of the royal palace, there was a hall with a permanent decoration; for Ganesh, and for nav-ratr. It was a mirror hall, really: walls and the ceiling were lined with Lucknow-made mirrors. Also, there were chandeliers. A shell fell on the roof, smashed through the roof  and came down to explode with a big noise. Shrapnel flew around, four men died. Not a mirror was left un-shattered.  

However, though the shells fell on the roof, they did not damage the palace. Only, they burned through the ceilings in between to hit the lower floors. So the roof and the  ceilings became sieve-like.

But the shells kept coming, and we the inmates were scared.  Everybody gathered in a room which was felt to be safer. Sixty-four persons stood there in that small room; including the slave-maids. We sweated, due to the summer heat, and due to the fear for life. There wasn't room enough to breath. After a few hours, Queen's gunners hit the English position, and shut down their guns. Thus the fortune kept swinging.

That night, I prayed to Lord Vaijnath, our village deity. When I dropped off for a bit. I had a dream: We, a mass of some 200 men, were crossing the river. When in the middle, suddenly water gushed down, and we almost drowned.  Then a wrestler-like, fair complexioned  load-carrier, standing in the mid-current, said to us: Fear not, I have come to save you. Give me your hands, I would take you to the bank.

Then a gun boomed, and I woke up. I told the uncle about the dream. He said/we understood, that we would survive.  

23. Catcher of Shells

On the fifth day of the battle, British artillery shut down a gun on the western face of the fort. Their shells demolished the gun-platform too. It was necessary to rebuild it.  After the midnight, some masons were brought.  One of them lay down flat on the tower, so as not to be sighted by British gunners. A human assembly line was formed from the foot of the tower, to pass bricks, etc, up. They rebuilt the platform and put the gun back. This gun started shelling the enemy's position, and shut down two English guns.

The English barrage upon the fort peaked on the seventh day.  They targeted Shankar Fort at day-break.  The English have binoculars, one can see the whole fort through them, and whereabouts of men working inside. They cost a couple of thousand rupees, or more. Through one such binocular, the enemy saw that there was only one source of water in the fort. They started shelling it. Four Brahmin water-carriers died. There was a gun-powder factory inside the fort, at Tamarind ground. A shell fell there, and the gunpowder caught fire. There was smoke everywhere, even in the palace down below. Nothing could be seen. When the smoke cleared, it was found that some thirty men and seven-eight women had died of burns. Another forty were injured.

There was no water for bath in the fort that day. Queen's gunners then swung the guns to aim at British position, and shut down a couple of enemy's guns. Thus, reverses and triumphs continued.

The battle became too intense on the eighth day. At night, it was as if the skies had opened up; enemy's guns spewed red balls of fire over the city. People left the houses to save themselves.  On the morrow, the Queen was verily worried. Jhansi forces needed help from outside badly, Raosaheb Peshwa's troops were yet to arrive.

She consulted Dhekre, the priest, and Pandit Upasni, and had a hundred Brahmins perform anushthan at  Ganesh temple , so that Raosaheb may reach quickly.  While the anushthan  went on, the Queen dozed off awhile at night. In her dream, she saw a beautiful married woman, fair, with a straight nose and broad forehead, bejeweled, wearing a red sari and white silk blouse, standing on the ramparts. She was catching the shells with bare hands. While at it, she spoke to the Queen, showing her hands which were blackened by ash, "But for me, who would catch these shells?"

  

  

For those who read this blog: There is no update lately, because I am busy with something. Would restart updating from second/third week of June.

22. Shells Like Cricket Balls

The battle began on a moonless night. British guns began firing. Shells started landing in the city. It brought untold misery to the people. Many civilians were killed. Some houses caught fire, and tankers were brought to douse flames. 

British shells fell in great numbers on the fort too. A shell would hit the terrace of the palace, and explode. Splinters would kill four-five people. The same shell would then fall through the terrace on to the lower floor, blowing some more splinters and killing some more. It would further burn through and fall down on lower floor and blow up; shrapnels would kill many more.

Britishers spent a lot of these fort-buster shells. People estimated that they cost five hundred rupees apiece.  A couple of unexploded shells were weighed, they were at least 60-65 sher. Thus, the battle hotted up.

A community kitchen was opened for those who had come from the south.

On the third day of the battle, British gunners targeted the cannon on the southern tower of the fort.  No gunner from Queen's army could stand the enemy fire. But then the fort gunners from the west-side tower started firing, they hit the best gunner in the British army. The Queen rewarded him with a silver bracelet. 

At night, we would go to one of the towers to watch British shells flying into the city. The shells were heavy, but looked only red and small. During the day, because of the light, shells could not be spotted until they hit, so this caused very many deaths. But at night, the red shells, like cricket balls, could be seen clearly. One felt it would hit him, but it would fall several hundred paces off eventually. 

Thus the battle progressed day and night.  

 

21. Vaishakh

The British first secured Bundel-khand. Then they moved on Jhansi. Their army set up camps to the west of the city, and a horseman was sent with a letter for the Queen.

The letter said: The Queen herself should come out and meet the British officers. She shouldn't bring troops along. If she did not come within two days, she should be ready for the battle.

The Queen sent a reply: My delegation will meet you. But I being a lady, would not come out. Captain Gordon handed over this state to us, with papers. I maintain a small army for security of the province, and a few cannons. We never think of going to war with the British, whatever you may have been told.

The British then sent out dispatches everywhere, summoning forces. Some troops were sent towards Kalpi, so as to stop Peshwa and Tatya Topi, and not allow them to come to the Queen's aid.

The Queen too sent a few horsemen to Raosaheb at Kalpi with a message: We are going into war, we count on your help. You may attack the British from outside. 

Raosaheb agreed.

 The British had it announced in the villages surrounding Jhansi that there will be a slaughter in the city for three days once it fell. Everyone above the age of five will be put to death. So no one should venture into Jhansi in this period.

Then came the month of Chaitra. The Queen held a haldi-kunku . Married women of the gentry families were invited. It was a big affair.

Marwaris and other money-lenders in Jhansi sent their families to Gwalior, along with the cash. Then the month of Vaishakh was upon us. British forces gathered outside the city wall. Their camps dotted the area, fires were lit. British had about sixty thousand troops, plus some thirty thousand camp followers. The city was now encircled.

20. Beauty And Brahmin - 2

At night, the girl arrived as usual. The wife saw her, and let her sneak up the stairs. After a while, the wife too went up, and put her ear to the room's door. She heard sound of laughter. Enraged, she banged at the door and asked the Brahmin Narayan to open up.

The Brahmin said from inside: We won't open the door. This isn't your business. Go away.

The wife replied: You have always been a philanderer, but we haven't met (slept together) for the last six months. You expect me to be content only with food and clothing (that you provide) and carry on? Am I not young?

The Brahmin replied: You have a two-year-old son. I am no more indebted to you, I do not want to sleep with you.  Now scram, otherwise you would get a thrashing.

The wife was helpless, she stepped down and sat weeping under the stairs.

The news spread across the city. Within a short period, four-five other Brahmins were enamoured with the lass. She told this to her patron, and asked: what should I do? The Brahmin Narayan said: You don't need money. So tell each of those who desire you: I will sleep with you, but you must hand me your sacred thread (yadnyo-pa-vit).

The other suitors of the girls readily agreed to this bargain. She slept with them in return for the thread. This went on for two years.

The governor came to know about the plight of Narayan's wife. He sent a Kotwal (police chief) to his house. Kotwal and his men found the Brahmin with the lass. Both were arrested.

Next morning, they were brought to the court. When people started slandering Narayan, the Bhangi girl said: He alone isn't guilty. Many (other) Brahmins of the city visited me. I only took their threads, police may go to my house and check. A pot full of threads was indeed found, there were about 175 of them.

The Brahmin (Narayan) said to the governor: I had a son from my wife, my marital life is over. Now I may be allowed to leave the city with this girl. Governor gave them the permission; both of them bid adieu to Jhansi.

But now the governor was worried: (almost) the whole city had sinned. Then it was decided that expiation must be carried out. Cow's urine was brought, and all the brahmins underwent expiation. 

So it once happened in Jhansi.

 

19. Beauty And Brahmin - 1

Jhansi is in Bundelkhand; water here isn't good for men. It breeds too many impotent men. A quarter of the men are impotent. 

I saw some men: the wife lusts after a stranger, she asks the husband to invite him over. Then she befriends the stranger, meets him by herself, and makes love to him. There were many instances of this.

I heard and wrote down in my note-book a tale: It happened in Jhansi in the time of Madhavrao II. A Brahmin, one Narayan, once saw a woman of Bhangi caste (toilet cleaners' caste) with her 15-year-old daughter when he came out of latrine. The Brahmin had studied the tradition of love-making, he thought that the girl must be what scriptures define as "Padmin", an extremely beautiful lass.

The Brahmin said to the girl's mother: don't marry off this girl, instead, I will keep her. She won't lack for anything, nor would you. But don't tell anyone about this.

The Bhangi woman agreed. Then the girl started visiting Brahmin's place every midnight, they would make love, and she would depart before the day-break. The Brahmin's wife became suspicious; (she thought) never before he let eight months pass without sleeping with me, we made love (at least) once a week. He has got some whore now, she has possessed him. Then one day, Brahmin's wife stayed up to keep watch below the first-floor room (where the Bhangi girl used to meet the Brahmin).