The biggest source for your book is documents classified as the Mutiny Papers. How did you come across them?
I came across them accidentally in the National Archives of New Delhi about five years ago, while I was doing research for another book. I found in the catalogue cabinet a printed list of 20,000 documents, the Mutiny Papers.
Once I got some of the more important and interesting papers translated from Urdu and Persian, I knew I had incredible material in my hands. They contained accounts of the uprising; there were petitions on matters ranging from trivial things to more important things, and there were records of the Delhi courts, politics, and everyday life connected to May 11, 1857.
British historians had often complained of the lack of material on the Sepoy Mutiny (as many still refer to the uprising or what Indians call the First War of Independence) from an Indian perspective. As early as 1923, the British historian Vincent Smith had complained 'that the story has been chronicled from one side only.'
As I began reading the translations of these documents, I could see the tumultuous events in Delhi for the first time from a properly Indian perspective, and not just from the British sources through which, to date, it has been usually been viewed.
Why did other historians in India not get hold of these documents?
I was astounded about it. But then, I also remembered that if they had the knowledge of the papers, they might not have been drawn to them because they were in nineteenth century court Urdu and Persian. I knew I had to use the expert services of a scholar who was as enthusiastic about the challenge as I was.
In Mahmood Farooqui, I not only found a dedicated person, but also someone who did remarkable translations of even the almost indecipherable shikastah (elaborate cursive script) of Urdu files.
Painting by Reverend Henry Martyn, who preached at Cawnpore, 1809-1810.
Also see: CPI-M to counter India's official history
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