Chapter XXXVII: Section II: Mughals (a.d. 1570-1720) and Maráthás (5)

[Disturbance at Ahmedábád, 14th Sept. 1857.] An incident occurred early in September which had an important influence on events. The two Native regiments quartered at Ahmedábád were the 2nd Regiment of Grenadiers and the 7th Native Infantry. The Grenadiers were chiefly Pardeshis from Oudh, while the majority of the 7th Regiment were Maráthás. As is often the case, an enmity sprang up between the two regiments. One night Captain Muter of the 2nd Grenadiers was visiting the guards as officer of the day. On approaching the quarter guard of the 7th Regiment, the sentry demanded the password which Captain Muter could not give. The sentry very properly refused to let him pass. Captain Muter returned to his lines, called out a party of Grenadiers, and made the sentry a prisoner. Next morning General Roberts put Captain Muter under arrest and released the sentry. This incident intensified the ill-feeling between the two regiments, and prevented their combination when the Grenadiers mutinied a few days later. It had been arranged that the two Native Regiments and the Golandauz artillery should mutiny at the same time, but there was mutual distrust between them, and the Native officers of the artillery had stipulated that they should make a show of resistance in order to let it appear that they had been overpowered by a superior force. About midnight on the 14th September 1857 the Grenadiers turned out and fell in on their parade ground armed and loaded. The guns were also brought out and loaded on their own parade ground. A Native officer of the Grenadiers was sent with a party to take possession of the guns in accordance with the preconcerted agreement, but the Subhedár of the Artillery threatened to fire on them, and the Native officer expecting that the guns would be given up without resistance, thought he had been betrayed, and retreated with his party, who threw away their arms as they ran across the parade ground. The Grenadiers were under arms on the parade waiting for the guns, when seeing the disorder in which the party was retreating from the Artillery lines, they also were seized with a panic and broke up in confusion. Then for the first time the Native officers reported to Colonel Grimes that there had been a slight disturbance in the lines. The mere accident that the Native officer detached to take the guns had not been informed of the show of resistance he was to expect from the Artillery, probably averted the massacre of every European in Gujarát. Twenty-one loaded muskets were found on the parade ground, and though the whole regiment was guilty it was decided to try the owners of those muskets by court martial. They were sentenced to death. As it was doubtful if the Native troops would permit the execution it was considered prudent to await the arrival of the 89th Regiment under Colonel Ferryman and Captain Hatch's battery of Artillery. They had been landed at Gogha during the monsoon with great difficulty, and were compelled to make a wide detour to the north owing to the flooded state of the country. On their arrival the executions were carried out; five of the mutineers were blown from guns, three were shot with musketry, and the rest were hanged in the presence of the whole of the troops. They met their death with a gentlemanly calmness which won the respect of all who were present.

[Rádhanpur Disloyal.] The example thus made, together with the presence of the European troops in Gujarát, restored our prestige and gave us time to attend to affairs on our frontier. The whole country was in a very disturbed state. On the fall of Delhi on September 28th, 1857, a treasonable correspondence was found between the Nawáb of Rádhanpur in Gujarát and the Emperor of Delhi, which deeply implicated the Nawáb. He and his ministers had forwarded nazránás of gold mohars to Delhi and asked for orders from the Emperor, offering to attack the British cantonments at Disa and Ahmedábád. The Nawáb had been on the most friendly terms with Captain Black the Political Agent, and had been considered perfectly loyal. Preparations were made to depose him for this treacherous conduct. We were then so strong in Gujarát that his estate could have been seized without the least difficulty, but he was considered too contemptible an enemy and his treason was pardoned.

[Arab Outbreak at Sunth.] Lieutenant Alban, with a party of Gujarát Horse, was now sent to settle affairs in Sunth, a petty state in the Rewa Kántha. Mustapha Khán, at the head of a turbulent body of Arabs, had made the Rája a prisoner in his own palace with a view to extort arrears of pay and other claims. Lieutenant Alban's orders were to disarm the Arabs. After some negotiations Mustapha Khán waited on Lieutenant Alban. He was attended by the whole of his armed followers with the matches of their matchlocks alight, thinking no doubt to intimidate Lieutenant Alban. On entering the tent Lieutenant Alban disarmed him, but imprudently placed his sword on the table. While they were conversing Mustapha Khán seized his sword and Lieutenant Alban immediately shot him with a revolver. The Arabs who crowded round the tent now opened fire on Alban and his men, but they were soon overpowered. Mustapha Khán, four Arabs, and one savár of the Gujarát Horse were killed.

[Disturbance in Lunáváda.] Lieutenant Alban, with a party of the 7th Native Infantry under Lieutenant Cunningham then proceeded to Páli. A few months before one Surajmal, a claimant of the Lúnáváda gádi, had attacked the Rája of Lúnáváda, but was repulsed with severe loss and had since been harboured in the village of Páli. On the approach of Alban's force, it was attacked by Surajmal's Rájputs and the village was accordingly burnt. Order was then restored in the Panch Maháls, and it was not again disturbed till Tátia Topi entered the Maháls.

[Conspiracy at Disa.] In October 1857 a conspiracy was discovered between the Thákor of Samda near Disa and some Native officers of the 2nd Cavalry and 12th Regiment Native Infantry to attack and plunder the camp at Disa and to murder the officers; but the evidence was not very clear, and before the trial could take place the amnesty had been published under which the suspected men were released. The peace of Northern Gujarát was much disturbed at this time by the Thákor of Rova, who plundered the Pálanpur and Sirohi villages at the head of 500 men, and the Thákor of Mandeta was also in arms but was held in check by a detachment of the 89th Regiment and a squadron of cavalry at Ahmednagar near Ídar. [1067] [Conspiracy at Baroda.] The two Thákors were acting in concert with some influential conspirators at Baroda of whom Malhár Ráo Gáikwár alias Dáda Sáheb was the chief. It was this man who afterwards became Gáikwár of Baroda and was deposed for the attempt to murder Colonel Phayre by poison.

[Want of Combination.] It is very remarkable that the sepoy war did not produce one man who showed any capacity for command. Every native regiment was in a state of mutiny and a large proportion of the civil population was ripe for revolt. If only one honest man had been found who could have secured the confidence and support of his fellow-countrymen, the fertile province of Gujarát would have been at his mercy; but amongst natives conflicting interests and mutual distrust make combination most difficult. In India a conspirator's first impulse is to betray his associates lest they should anticipate him. The failure of every mutinous outbreak in Gujarát was due to this moral defect. This trait may be traced throughout the history of the war and should be studied by those who advocate the independence of India, and the capacity of the native for self-government. It is an apt illustration of native inability to organize combined operations that the most formidable conspiracy for the subversion of our power should have been delayed till October 1857. By this time the arrival of Her Majesty's 89th Regiment and a battery of European artillery at Ahmedábád had rendered a successful revolt impossible. The mutinies of the Gujarát Horse and Grenadiers had been promptly suppressed and severely punished. The termination of the monsoon had opened the ports and reinforcements were daily expected. Had the outbreak occurred simultaneously with the mutiny of the Gujarát Horse, the Artillery, and the Second Grenadiers, Gujarát must have been lost for a time and every European would have been murdered.

[Marátha Conspiracy.] For many years Govindráo alias Bápu Gáikwár, a half brother of His Highness the Gáikwár, had resided near the Sháhibág at Ahmedábád. He had been deported from Baroda for intriguing against his brother and had been treated as a political refugee. This man with Malhárráo, another brother of His Highness the Gáikwár, Bháu Sáheb Pawár, and a Sardár who called himself the Bhonsla Rája, also related to His Highness by marriage, conceived the design to murder the Europeans in Baroda Ahmedábád and Kaira and establish a government in the name of the Rája of Sátára. To Bápu Gáikwár was entrusted the task of tampering with the troops in Ahmedábád, and frequent meetings of the Native officers were held at his house every night. The Bhonsla Rája, with a man named Jhaveri Nálchand, was deputed to the Kaira district to secure the aid of the Thákors of Umeta, Bhádarva, Kera, and Dáima, and of the Patels of Ánand and Partábpur.

[Marátha Conspiracy.] These landholders assured Bápu of their support and the Thákor of Umeta mounted some iron guns and put his fort in a state of defence. An agent named Maganlál was sent into the Gáikwár's Kadi Pargana, where he enlisted a body of 2000 foot and 150 horse, which he encamped near the village of Lodra. The followers of the Kaira Thákors assembled in the strong country on the banks of the Mahi near the village of Partábpur with a detachment and advanced to the Chauk Taláv within five miles of Baroda. The massacre at Baroda was fixed for the night of October 16th. The native troops in Baroda had been tampered with and had promised in the event of their being called out that they would fire blank ammunition only.

[Gathering at Partábpur,] The Thákors had been encamped at Partábpur for several days, but owing partly to the sympathy of the people and partly to the terror which they inspired, no report was made to any British officers till the 15th October, when Mr. Ashburner, who was encamped at Thásra, marched to attack them with his new levies and a party of the Kaira police. There was, as usual, disunion in the ranks of the insurgents; they had no leaders they could depend upon, and they dispersed on hearing of the approach of Ashburner's force without firing a shot. Ninety-nine men who had taken refuge in the ravines of the Mahi were captured and a commission under Act XIV. of 1857 was issued to Mr. Ashburner and Captain Buckle, the Political Agent in the Rewa Kántha, to try them. Ten of the ringleaders were found guilty of treason and blown from guns at Kanvári, nine were transported for life, and the remainder were pardoned. The turbulent villages of Partábpur and Angar in Kaira were destroyed and the inhabitants removed to more accessible ground in the open country. Their strong position in the ravines of the Mahi river had on several occasions enabled the people of Partábpur and Angar to set Government at defiance, and this was considered a favourable opportunity of making an example of them and breaking up their stronghold.

[And at Lodra.] In the meantime information of the gathering at Lodra had reached Major Agar, the Superintendent of Police, Ahmedábád. He marched to attack them with the Koli Corps and a squadron of the Gujarát Horse. Maganlál fled to the north after a slight skirmish in which two men were killed and four wounded, and was captured a few days afterwards by the Thándár of Sammu with eleven followers. They were tried by General Roberts and Mr. Hadow, the Collector of Ahmedábád, under Act XIV. of 1857. Three of them were blown from guns at Waizápur, three were hanged, and the rest were transported for life.

It is much to be regretted that Malhárráo Gáikwár and the Bhonsla Rája were allowed to escape punishment. There was very clear evidence of the guilt of the Bhonsla Rája, but His Highness the Gáikwár interceded for him, and Sir Richmond Shakespeare, the Resident, weakly consented that his life should be spared on condition that he should be imprisoned for life at Baroda, a sentence which, it is hardly necessary to say, was never carried out.

[Partial Disarming.] On the suppression of this abortive insurrection it was determined to disarm Gujarát, and in January 1858 strong detachments of the 72nd Highlanders and of Her Majesty's 86th Regiment with the 8th Regiment Native Infantry, two guns under Captain Conybere, and a squadron of Gujarát Horse were placed at the disposal of Mr. Ashburner to carry out this measure. His Highness the Gáikwár had consented to a simultaneous disarmament of his country, but he evaded the performance of his promise. In the Kaira district and in the Jambusar táluka of Broach the disarmament was very strictly enforced; every male adult of the fighting classes was required to produce an arm of some kind. The town of Ahmedábád was relieved of 20,000 arms in the first two days, but the Highlanders and 86th Regiment were required for operations in Rájputána, and after their departure from Gujarát it was deemed prudent to postpone this very unpopular measure.

[Náikda Revolt, Oct. 1858.] After these events Gujarát remained tranquil for nearly a year till, in October 1858, the Náikda Bhils of Nárukot revolted under Rupa and Keval Náiks, and a few months later Tátia Topi's scattered force being hard-pressed by Colonel Park's column, plundered several villages of the Panch Maháls during its rapid march through that district.

[Tátia Topi, 1858.] In 1858, after his defeat at Gwálior, at the close of the mutinies in Northern India, Tátia Topi moved rapidly towards the Dakhan. The chiefs of Jamkhandi and Nárgund had been in treasonable correspondence with the rebel chiefs in the North-West and had invoked their aid. It is more than probable that if Tátia Topi had entered the Dakhan in force, there would have been a general insurrection of the Marátha population. Tátia's march to the Dakhan soon assumed the character of a flight. He was closely pressed by two columns under Generals Somerset and Mitchell, and a very compact and enterprizing little field force commanded by Colonel Park. Colonel Park's own regiment, the 72nd Highlanders, many of the men mounted on camels, formed the main fighting power of this force. His indefatigable energy in the pursuit of the enemy allowed them no rest, and eventually brought them to bay at Chhota Udepur. Fearing to face the open country of Berár with such an uncompromising enemy in pursuit, Tátia recrossed the Narbada at Chikalda and marched towards Baroda. He had, by means of an agent named Ganpatráo, for some time been in communication with the Bháu Sáheb Pavár, a brother-in-law of His Highness the Gáikwár, and had been led to expect aid from the Baroda Sardárs and the Thákors of the Kaira and Rewa Kántha districts. Immediately it became known that Tátia had crossed the Narbada, troops were put in motion from Kaira, Ahmedábád, and Disa for the protection of the eastern frontier of Gujarát. Captain Thatcher, who had succeeded to the command of the irregular levies raised by Mr. Ashburner in Kaira, was ordered to hold Sankheda with the irregulars and two of the Gáikwár's guns. He was afterwards reinforced by Captain Collier's detachment of the 7th Regiment N. I., which fell back from Chhota Udepur on the approach of the enemy.

[Tátia Topi's Defeat at Chhota Udepur, Dec. 1858.] Tátia Topi at this time commanded a formidable force composed of fragments of many mutinous Bengal regiments. He had also been joined by a mixed rabble of Villáyatis, Rohillás, and Rájputs, who followed his fortune in hopes of plunder. Ferozsha Nawáb of Kamona and a Marátha Sardár who was known as the Ráo Sáheb, held subordinate commands. Each fighting man was followed by one or more ponies laden with plunder which greatly impeded their movements. It was chiefly owing to this that Colonel Park was enabled to overtake the rebels and to force them into action. On reaching Chhota Udepur the troops of the Rája fraternised with the enemy, and Captain Collier having evacuated the town, Tátia Topi was allowed to occupy it without opposition. He had intended to halt at Chhota Udepur to recruit his men and to develop his intrigues with the Baroda Sardárs, but Park gave him no respite. On the 1st December 1858, he fell upon Tátia's rebel force and defeated it with great slaughter, his own loss being trifling. After this defeat there was great confusion in the ranks of the insurgents. Tátia Topi abandoned his army and did not rejoin it till it had reached the forest lands of Párona. Discipline which had always been lax, was now entirely thrown aside. The muster roll of one of Tátia's cavalry regiments was picked up and showed that out of a strength of 300 sabres only sixteen were present for duty. The rebel force separated into two bodies, one doubled back and plundered Park's baggage which had fallen far to the rear, the other under Ferozsha entered the Panch Maháls and looted Báriya, Jhálod, Limbdi, and other villages; Godhra being covered by Muter's force was not attacked. Park's force was so disabled by the plunder of its baggage and by long continued forced marches, that it was compelled to halt at Chhota Udepur, but General Somerset took up the pursuit and rapidly drove Tátia from the Panch Maháls. He fled in the direction of Salumba. The Thákor of that place was in arms, and Tátia no doubt expected support from him, but the Thákor was too cautious to join what was then evidently a hopeless cause. On reaching Nargad on the 20th February 1859, Ferozsha made overtures of surrender, and a week later 300 cavalry and a mixed force of 1500 men under Zahur Ali and the Maulvi Vazir Khán laid down their arms to General Mitchell. They were admitted to the benefit of the amnesty. The remnant of Tátia's force fled to the north-east.

[Náikda Disturbance, 1858.] In October 1858, instigated by the intrigues of the Bháu Sáheb Pavár, the Sankheda Náikdás, a very wild forest tribe, took up arms under Rupa and Keval Náiks, and after having plundered the outpost, thána, at Nárukot, attacked a detachment of the 8th Regiment N. I. under Captain Bates at Jámbughoda. They were repulsed with considerable loss after a desultory fight during the greater part of two days. On the arrest of Ganpatráo, the Bháu Sáheb's agent, this troublesome insurrection would probably have collapsed, but the Naikdás were joined by a number of Villáyatis, matchlock-men, the fragments of Tátia's broken force, who encouraged them to hold out. They occupied the very strong country between Chámpáner and Nárukot, and kept up a harassing warfare, plundering the villages as far north as Godhra.

A field force commanded by the Political Agent of the Rewa Kántha, Colonel Wallace, was employed against the Náikdás during the cold weather of 1858, and in one of the frequent skirmishes with the insurgents Captain Hayward of the 17th Regiment N. I. was severely wounded by a matchlock bullet on the 28th January 1859. The only success obtained by the Náikdás was the surprise of Hassan Ali's company of Hussein Khán's levy. The Subhedár had been ordered to protect the labourers who were employed in opening the pass near the village of Sivrájpur, but the duty was very distasteful to him, and his son deserted with twenty-four men on the march to Sivrájpur. They were suddenly attacked by a mixed force of Makránis and Náikdás. Seven men including the Subhedár were killed and eleven wounded without any loss to the enemy. The Subhedár neglected to protect his camp by the most ordinary precautions and his men appear to have behaved badly. They fled without firing a shot directly they were attacked. But little progress had been made in pacifying the Náikdás till Captain Richard Bonner was employed to raise and organize a corps composed chiefly of Bhils with their head-quarters at Dohad in the Panch Maháls. Captain Bonner's untiring energy and moral influence soon reduced the Náikdás to submission. Rupa Náik laid down his arms and accepted the amnesty of the 10th March 1859, and Keval Náik followed his example soon after.

[Wágher Outbreak, 1859.] In July 1859 the Wághers of Okhámandal, a mahál in Káthiáváda belonging to His Highness the Gáikwár, suddenly seized and plundered Dwárka, Barvála, and Bet. They were led by a Wágher chief named Toda Manik, who alleged that he had been compelled to take up arms by the oppression of the Gáikwár's kámdárs; but it is probable that he was encouraged to throw off allegiance by the weakness of the Baroda administration and the belief that he would have to deal with the troops of the Darbár only. He soon found he was in error. Major Christie with 200 sabres of the Gujarát Horse and a wing of the 17th Regiment Native Infantry from Rájkot marched to Mandána on the Ran to cut off the communication between Okhámandal and the Káthiáváda peninsula. The cantonment of Rájkot was reinforced from Ahmedábád by six guns of Aytoun's battery, a wing of the 33rd Regiment and a detachment of the 14th Regiment Native Infantry under Captain Hall, and a naval and military force was at the same time prepared in Bombay for the recovery of Bet and Dwárka as soon as the close of the monsoon should render naval operations on the western coast possible.

[Expedition against Bet, 1859.] On the 29th September 1859, the following force embarked in the transports South Ramillies and Empress of India, towed by Her Majesty's steam-ships Zenobia and Victoria, and followed by the frigate Firoz, the gunboat Clyde, and the schooner Constance:

Her Majesty's 28th Regiment 500 Men.
Her Majesty's 6th Regiment Native Infantry 600 Men.
Marine Battalion 200 Men.
Royal Artillery 60 Men.
Sappers and Miners 90 Men.

The expedition was under the command of Colonel Donovan of Her Majesty's 28th Regiment, but it was intended that on arrival at Bet, Colonel Scobie should command the combined naval and military force. Colonel Scobie marched from Rájkot early in October with the wings of Her Majesty's 33rd Regiment and 17th Native Infantry, the 12th Light Field Battery and detachments of the 14th Native Infantry and Gujarát Horse. Had Colonel Donovan waited for this force he might have effectually invested the fort of Bet, which is situated on an island, and exterminated the rebels; but he was too anxious to distinguish himself before he could be relieved of command. He arrived off Bet on the 4th October 1859, and at sunrise that morning the steam-ships Firoz, Zenobia, Clyde, and Constance took up their positions off the fort of Bet and opened fire with shot and shell at 950 yards. The fort replied feebly with a few small guns. Shells effectually scorched the fort and temples occupied by the enemy, but the shot made little impression on the wall which was here thirty feet thick. The bombardment continued throughout the day and at intervals during the night. Next morning Dewa Chabasni, the Wágher chief in command of the fort, opened negotiations for surrender, but he would not consent to the unconditional surrender which was demanded, and after an interval of half an hour the artillery fire was resumed and preparations were made to disembark the troops. They landed under a heavy musketry fire from the fort and adjacent buildings, and an attempt was made to escalade. The ladders were placed against the wall but the storming party of Her Majesty's 28th Regiment and 6th Regiment Native Infantry were repulsed with heavy loss. Captain McCormack of Her Majesty's 28th Regiment, Ensign Willaume of the 6th Regiment, and ten European soldiers were killed; and Captain Glasspoole, Lieutenant Grant of the 6th Native Infantry, and thirty-seven men of the 28th Regiment were wounded, many of them severely. One sepoy of the Marine Battalion was killed and five wounded.

[Bet Fort Taken.] During the night which succeeded this disastrous attack the Wághers evacuated the fort. They reached the mainland, taking with them their women the children and the plunder of the temple, but Dewa Chabasni, the Wágher chief, had been killed the previous day. Considering the large and well-equipped force at Colonel Donovan's disposal and the facilities which the insular position of Bet afforded to a blockading force, the escape of the Wághers almost with impunity, encumbered with women and plunder, did not enhance Colonel Donovan's military reputation. Captain D. Nasmyth, R. E., Field Engineer of the Okhámandal Force, was directed to destroy the fort of Bet and carried out his instructions most effectually. Some of the Hindu temples nearest the walls were severely shaken by the explosion of the mines, and a great outcry was raised of the desecration of the temples; but if Hindus will convert their temples into fortified enclosures, they must take the consequence when they are occupied by the enemies of the British Government.

Lieutenant Charles Goodfellow, R. E., greatly distinguished himself on this occasion. He earned the Victoria Cross by carrying off a wounded man of Her Majesty's 28th Regiment under a very heavy fire. Treasure valued at 3 1/2 lákhs of rupees was taken on board the Firoz for safe custody. It was eventually restored to the Pujáris of the temples, but most of the temples had been carefully plundered by the Wághers before the entry of the British force.

[Dwárka Fort Taken.] Many of the fugitives from Bet took refuge in Dwárka, and Colonel Donovan's force having re-embarked proceeded to Dwárka to await the arrival of Colonel Scobie's small brigade. Scobie's force did not reach Dwárka till October 20th. The Naval Brigade under Lieutenant Sedley with sixteen officers and 110 men had already landed under very heavy matchlock fire, and thrown up a slight breastwork of loose stone within 150 yards of the walls. A field piece from the Zenobia and afterwards a thirty-two pounder were placed in position in this work. The successful result of the siege was mainly due to the determined bravery of this small naval force. They repulsed repeated sorties from the fort and inflicted severe losses on the enemy. As soon as the stores and ammunition could be landed, Colonel Donovan took up a position to the north-east of the fort, Colonel Scobie to the south-east, and Captain Hall occupied an intermediate position with detachments of Her Majesty's 33rd Regiment, the 14th Native Infantry, and Gujarát Horse under Lieutenant Pym. The garrison made several determined attempts to break through Captain Hall's position, but they were on each occasion driven back with loss.

The first battery opened fire on the northern face of the fort on October 28th, while the Zenobia and the Firoz poured a well-directed fire of shells on the houses and temples which sheltered the enemy towards the sea. The shells did immense execution and relieved the attack on the Naval Brigade which continued to hold its position with the greatest gallantry though several times surrounded by the enemy. On the night of the 31st October the garrison evacuated the fort and cut its way through a picket of Her Majesty's 28th Regiment, wounding Ensign Hunter and four men. A detachment under Colonel Christie followed the fugitives next morning and overtook them near Vasatri. A skirmish ensued, but they escaped without much loss and took refuge in the Barda hill. They continued to disturb the peace of Káthiáváda for several years. In one of the desultory skirmishes which followed, Lieutenants LaTouche and Hebbert were killed.

[Rising in Nagar Párkar.] While these events were in progress, Karranji Hati the Rána of Nagar Párkar on the Sindh frontier of Gujarát, took up arms at the head of a band of Sodhás, plundered the treasury and telegraph office at Nagar Párkar, and released the prisoners in the jail. Colonel Evans commanded the field force which was employed against him for many months without any very definite results. The country is a desert and the Sodhás avoided a collision with the troops. The Rána eventually submitted and peace was restored.