Broadly speaking the history of India’s freedom struggle finds its first and foremost mention from the great uprise of 1857, A ‘terrible beauty’ was born with the legends like Mangal Pandey, Tatya Tope and Rani Laxami Bai who like a mythical bird Phoenix rose from their own ashes and sowed the seeds of India’s nine decade later freedom.These sacred names still reverberate in our ears and make us proud. After the glorious rebellion of 1857 the freedom movement of India never ceased and many more new images of valiant revolutionaries began to bedeck the galaxy of freedom fighters. On the one hand the ghastly oppressions of the English dictators were rising and on the other were also rising the big bands of crusaders with a vow to banish the Britishers. Revolutionaries of India 1857-1947 is one such book which chronicles all these patriotic and sublime accounts. The book righteously introduces the readers with many unsung patriots who did not even budge an inch in the face of the adversities.
This newly released book “Revolutionaries of India 1857-1947” which has been diligently complied by Ravi Valluri and Lakshmi Valluri is a remarkable tribute to the sons and daughters of soil. These forty writers who hail from the different corners of India have thrown light on the unstinting services and selfless sacrifices of many hitherto unknown or lesser-known revolutionaries who kissed the noose unflinchingly for the sake of the freedom of our nation. As we read this book, we are bound to have a sense of deep agony inside our hearts and experience profound remorse also which overwhelms us for neglecting the contributions of these selfless revolutionaries.
Unfortunately, the society we dwell in, is deeply steeped in the old fossilized notion of pervert patriarchy. Be it our scriptures or the History books, the heroes have always been males only. It is these mighty men who call the shorts in every walk of life. But the most remarkable feature of this book is its inclusion of many women warriors whose names we might not have even heard of so far. Certainly the book has successfully demolished the gender based demarcations. Therefore, a literary critic will indubitably be tempted to call it a sublime work not only in the patriotic genre of literature but in feministic folds also.
The write ups Rukmini Lakshmipathi by Ishwar Achanta and Bengali women and the Freedom Movement, The Forgotten Tigresses by Dr Arpita Dutta Sutradhar; and A Symbol of Resilience and Sacrifice by Kamalika Mazumder deserve a special mention. The entire book has a smooth , absorbing and extremely lucid narrative. A very few of us are aware that one Chittu Pandey played the most significant role in liberating Ballia district from the fetters of British rule much before India achieved its full-fledged freedom. We have always been focused on Gandhi , Nehru and Sardar Patel whereas many more revolutionaries remained just subdued. These iconic figures like Uda Devi, Badal , Binod and Dinesh who gained no recognition thus far have been given a proper justice in this book. Having read this book, every historian will remark that history needs to be reviewed and rewritten. Such is authenticity of this book that it must be prescribed in our college and university curriculum.
